Avenue A renames itself

Avenue A, an interactive ad agency and marketing technology seller, said Thursday that it changed its name to aQuantive, a brand that will act as an umbrella for its three business units. In addition, the company said it changed the reporting structure of sales for its marquee agency business, Avenue A, for which it will recognize net revenue as opposed to gross revenue effective Jan. 1, 2004. The financial reporting changes will help the company standardize its contractual terms and lessen state tax, among other benefits, the company said.

As of March 24, the company will change its Nasdaq composite index symbol and corporate Web site address. aQuantive, will act as the parent company for three business divisions: Avenue A, marketing group i-Frontier and ad technology group Atlas DMT. The move comes shortly after Avenue A posted its first net profit.